Social Media plays a big role in the presidential debate

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced each other in the first US presidential debate on Monday, with the eyes of the world watching. It has been reported that an estimated 84 million people tuned in, setting a new record in presidential debates which has spanned for over sixty years. We also have to consider the people that watched in bars, restaurants and on live streams who were not included in the total audience, so it’s even bigger than the 84 million which is been reported.

Social media channels exploded with viewers from around the world weighing in on the discussion and sharing their opinion. The general consensus on Twitter by the end of the debate was that Hillary was the clear winner but this, of course, can change.

If the election was simply a numbers game then Donald Trump would be the outright winner. Donald has 11.8 million followers compared to Hillary’s 9.1 million. The disappointment for the Trump camp is that this has not been replicated across the polls, as there is a wave of support for Hillary. Twitter cannot be underestimated and the importance of social media for Donald and Hillary is huge.

In January 2016, a poll discovered that 44% of US adults learnt about the 2016 presidential election on Twitter and Facebook, this is one of the many reasons that Hillary and Donald have used social media across their campaign. They need to reach as many people and social is often the quickest and most direct way to do this.

It’s not just Twitter and Facebook, though, Snapchat has been popular and is regularly used by Donald Trump. There has been some controversy though with his “debate day” geo-filter attacking Hillary – many users took to Twitter to express their outrage to Snapchat for proving this platform to attack her. There was even a petition to boycott the platform until they removed the filter. Gosh!